PITTSBURGH -- Dan Bylsma saw a rival and an assistant fired on Monday morning. They were the same person.

Peter Laviolette, the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers and one of Bylsma's three assistants on the U.S. Olympic team heading into Sochi, lost his job three games into the season . The Flyers made it clear that the decision had been in the works since last season, and that a rough training camp followed by an 0-3 start made it a done deal.

Laviolette, overall, is a good coach who wasn't done any favors by his team's roster construction. Philadelphia employs two backup goaltenders and a group of defensemen who are either old, slow, or both. So, regardless of the internal discussions, the decision caught many off guard -- the Penguins' Bylsma included.

"I was a little bit surprised and shocked to see that happen at this point in time," Bylsma said Tuesday, adding that he'd reached out to Laviolette after he heard the news.

Still, Laviolette's newfound time on his hands (at least until another NHL team hires him) won't materially change the Team USA evaluation process.

"Every night, we probably have someone watching and scouting and giving reports on players that make up the 48 or 50 guys on the U.S. roster," said Bylsma.

"Even when I scout games, now I'm looking at Jonathan Quick (on Monday). Normally when I'm watching (LA Kings-New York Rangers), I'd probably be more focused on the Rangers, but I did pay attention to Dustin Brown, (Trevor) Lewis and Quick in net.

"So I think everybody has got their highest focus on those players, and that would be no different for Peter now."

Laviolette, for example, certainly doesn't need to pay any extra attention to Justin Faulk on Tuesday night. Bylsma has that covered, and Laviolette has already seen him once this season. The 21-year-old Carolina Hurricane, a 2010 second-round pick who's already in his third NHL season, has everything the United States is looking for in its defensemen for 2014. He's big enough, at 6-0, 215, with serious skating ability, experience on the larger international ice surface and a developing two-way game.

"I don't want to speak about him too much because we're playing against him tonight, but I've been a real big fan of Justin and his game and what he brings," Bylsma said. History backs that up -- the Penguins reportedly inquired about Faulk as part of the return in the Jordan Staal trade, with the Hurricanes saying, "No thanks."

Last season, Faulk was slowed by a knee injury and still put up 15 points in 38 games. At even-strength, coach Kirk Muller sent Faulk out for less offensive-zone faceoffs than every other Carolina defensemen but partner Tim Gleason. Plus, according to extraskater.com, Faulk and Gleason played against opposition that received a larger percentage of their team's minutes than any other Carolina defensemen. So Faulk is facing top players on a nightly basis.

Another way of judging the minutes Faulk played, of course, are using Rob Vollman's usage charts . The Hurricanes indicate that Faulk and Gleason indeed faced opponents who were on the ice for more even-strength shot attempts than their teammates. The issue for Faulk is how he played against those guys -- and based on Corsi, a plus-minus for shot attempts, he didn't do particularly well. In these charts, blue is good. The bluer a bubble, the more a team possessed the puck at even-strength while a given player was on the ice. The opposite is true for red

So based on last year, there's room for improvement at even strength. In Carolina's previous game, a 2-1 win in Laviolette's last night with the Flyers, Faulk showed improvement; he was on the ice for seven more Canes shot attempts than Flyers attempts (19-12), and played regularly against a line of Vincent Lecavalier, Wayne Simmonds and Matt Read, per shiftchart.com. On special teams, he's already Carolina's top penalty-killer and figures to be a mainstay on the power play, particularly with Joni Pitkanen's pending season-long injury. That's part of what caught Bylsma's eye.

"He can play in all situations as well. He's a real good defender. He's a gritty guy," Bylsma said. "Like I said, I've been a fan of watching him long before me becoming the U.S. coach. I've watched quite a bit of his international games over the last couple years, on tape and in person. On the big ice, with his skating ability and his shot, he's a big factor."

Faulk has played internationally in each of the last four years: in 2010, he won gold at the world junior championships. He followed that with bronze in 2011 and has played on the last two world championship teams, the latter of which won bronze; of course, he wants his shot at Sochi. He also has a day job to think about.

"I don't think (playing against Bylsma) really changes much at all. Right now, I'm with the Hurricanes, so I come out here and try to do whatever I can to help the team win here," Faulk told Sporting News. "If I can just go out there and play my game and play my best, that'll also help the chances of making that team."